Pages

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Are you getting personal with your customers?

ontent is king. This phrase might have been around a long time, but it’s still applicable to marketing. Of course, nowadays it’s only truly valid if the content is personalised.

Otherwise, the message just won’t get through to your audience.

As technology progresses and new digital channels are adopted, targeting becomes more sophisticated, which makes personalisation even more critical.

In fact, according to Econsultancy's recent Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing, 52% of digital marketers agree that personalising content is crucial for online strategy.

Q: To what extent do you agree with the following statements?

Personally, I think this is 48% less than it should be, especially as studies show that personalised marketing campaigns are consistently more successful than static and BAU advertising content.

Why bother to personalise content?

In the past, you might have seen online adverts that were so irrelevant that you wouldn’t have given them a second glance, labelling them all as irritating and intrusive.

However, if content is displayed in an unusual and interactive way, or is directly relevant, consumers are far more likely to engage with it, especially if they can personalise it themselves.

Marketers are beginning to realise the importance of unique content, so more companies are creating innovative ways of allowing customers to personalise and interact with site content.

Sky has created a widget that allows their customers to choose a personalised ‘Sky bundle’ with automatically updating prices.

Once the customer has made their choices, they are sent straight to the shopping basket on Sky’s ecommerce site, which is pre-populated with their personalised package.

The M&S virtual makeover counter is another great example of content personalisation. This platform lets customers upload their photo and virtually test make-up products, making it easier for them to find the right shade of foundation, lipstick, eye shadow etc. for their skin tone.

Spontaneous personalisation

Content delivery, particularly timing, is also crucial and the effect of real-time personalisation was seen recently when the power went out during the American Super Bowl.

Making the most of the situation, several brands released adverts that were inspired by the blackout. Oreo tweeted a simple picture of their famous biscuit with the caption ‘you can still dunk in the dark’ but it received almost 16,000 retweets.

Perhaps this advert was planned, perhaps it wasn’t. Either way, the timing was key to its success and companies should be aware that a clever response to a sudden event can lead to increased product awareness and customer interaction.